30 Mar 2017

Despite his resurgence at Crystal Palace, Liverpool outcast Mamadou Sakho remains a dead man walking at Anfield, and thankfully, it appears that the Frenchman will not be short of offers this summer.

According to the Daily Mail, Sakho has 'no future at Anfield', and Liverpool are happy to sell him to the highest bidder:

"Southampton and Napoli are targeting Mamadou Sakho. Liverpool are determined to recoup the money they paid, and it would take a bid of £20m+ to sign Sakho".

If Southampton want Sakho, then it clearly means they're looking for a replacement for Virgil Van Dijk, and with that in mind, perhaps there's scope for a player-plus-cash deal: Sakho plus £25m-£30m?

Sounds good to me!

Sakho - who won the league title with PSG - is in imperious form at Palace, and since signing for the club, he's helped Sam Allardyce's team keep three clean sheets in a row, something they haven't achieved for two-and-a-half years.

Sakho has his (football-related) issues, but on his day, he's clearly a good defender, and in my view, Jurgen Klopp should've given him a chance to win his place back in the team. Instead, Klopp treated Sakho in a disgraceful manner, marginalised him from the squad for no valid reason, and basically decided to cut his nose of to spite his face.

This is what happens, though, when Klopp comes up against a player with an actual personality, who isn't an compliant, obedient, subservient weakling. The same thing happened with Ivan Perisic at Dortmund, and Klopp quickly marginalised the Croatian attacker and sold him off. Basically: submit to Klopp's paternalistic will, or it's game over.

Some fans argue that Sakho should return in the summer to partner Matip, but Klopp's pigheaded pride will never allow that to happen. As such, a transfer is the best solution, and with Sakho on £100k-a-week, the sooner a deal is sanctioned this summer, the better, lest the club continue Hemorrhaging £400k-a-month for a player on the sidelines.